Topic: Methods

Order Description
Title Here
Student Name (First and Last)
Method
Briefly introduce your next capstone section. While this may seem redundant at each
section, it is important to remind the reader of your research at the beginning of each section.
The reason for this? In the event someone is interested in your research, but they do not want to
read the entire research study paper, they can easily learn about your research in the beginning of
every section. This section requires one paragraph in length.
Research Method and Design Appropriateness
Elaborate on the differences among various research methodologies. What are the
differences between qualitative research and quantitative research? Which was more appropriate
for your study? Why? More than likely, this will be a descriptive research project, focusing more
on the literature surrounding the topic, rather than conducting actual quantitative or qualitative
research. This section requires two paragraphs in length.
Population
Discuss your study population. The study population is the larger picture of the research.
If you were conducting research focused on childhood education, your study population would
include children who are in school. This may be at a local level, state level, national level, or
even at the global level. You determine the study population by how big you want the scope of
your project to be. This section requires two paragraphs in length.
Sampling Frame
Elaborate on your sampling frame here. The sampling frame is the smaller picture of the
study population that you can actually obtain information from. For instance, in the same
research that is interested in childhood education, the sampling frame may be 10 students from a
local school. These ten students would then be used in your data collection process. This section
requires one paragraph in length.
Data Collection
Discuss the collection of your data. Was it quantitative or qualitative? How did you
collect the data? How did you protect the integrity of the data? For our example, if 10 nursing
home residents could be interviewed; this would be qualitative in nature. Likewise, conducting a
numerical poll would be quantitative. If you conduct personal interviews, you will want to ensure
minimal researcher bias. This section requires two paragraphs in length.
Data Analysis
Discuss the process where you analyzed your data. How did you analyze it? If
quantitative, what statistical tool did you use? If qualitative, how did you interpret the
information? This section requires one paragraph in length.
References
Remember that any reference in your reference list must be present in your paper in the form of a
citation (Author, year). Likewise, any citation in your paper must be present in your
reference list. Refer to your APA Handbook 6th edition for more detailed information on
developing a reference list. For your Assignment 3 you need a minimum of six (6)
scholarly references.

Assignment 3 Grading Rubric: Methods
Criteria Points Possible
Title of Proposed Topic/Research 5
Methods 10

Introduction
There has been a controversy surrounding the issue of vaccines. There are people who vaccinate their children and others who do not vaccinate their children. All the people on the different sides of the coin have varied reasons that they can validate. Many people assert that the vaccines can be riskier than the disease that they seem to be protecting. Some countries are not vulnerable to the changes that are prevented by the vaccines because the diseases are not prevalent in such countries. Many people in America have complained about instances of autism because of continued use of vaccines for preventing illnesses. Parents in such countries should avoid vaccinating their children
Background
This part describes the existing information in the field that relates to vaccination and the side effects. Vaccination is one of the greatest achievements in the medical field because it aims at preventing the occurrence of disease (Durbach, 2014). The discovery has seen many deaths being prevented and many children have been saved from various illnesses. However, vaccines have received several criticism in the current health system with many people citing complications that arise due to vaccinations. There is increased complacency towards immunization practices. In the United States, anti-vaccination campaigns are increasing. The central argument is as to whether people should vaccinate or not is on the link between vaccination and autism. There is an increase in the number of platforms against the vaccination and a number is published daily on the Internet. The United States is afraid of the exposure to sickness and other disease causing conditions.

General Problem Statement
The general problem is the link between vaccination and autism. Many people have complained about the effects of vaccines. Some people assert that the effects of the vaccines on the body are dangerous than the disease being prevented by the vaccine. There have been instances where vaccine manufacturers have faced lawsuits against their products. In the 1970s during the outbreak of the swine flu in the United States, the vaccine administered caused more deaths than the disease. Current research shows that almost 50% of Americans have mixed feelings on the validity of vaccination (Largent, 2012). Under normal circumstances of medication, parents are not made aware of the choices that they have in regard to vaccination. Out of all the vaccinated children in a US kindergarten class, six must be disabled, 10 may be asthmatic and 50 live with autism. About 30 years ago, instances of autism had not come up (Conis, 2015). Instances of the disease came up when the vaccination came up in the United States. Many of the people also have speculations that vaccines have some elements of mercury.
Specific Problem Statement
The specific problem is that many people in the United States have complained of instances of autism because of the vaccination that some of the people undergo.
Purpose Statement
This part discusses the reason of carrying out the research. The purpose of this research is to determine whether a relationship exists between vaccination and autism.
Research Questions

This part tackles the questions that the research aims at answering. Most of the questions that are answered in the research are based on instances that have seen criticism on autism. The research is aimed at answering the following questions
RQ1: Can you vaccinate your child against a virus?
RQ2: How long does a vaccine last in a child?
RQ3: Is there a link between vaccination and autism?
References
Durbach, N. (2014). Bodily matters: The anti-vaccination movement in England ; 1853-1907. Duke Univ. Press.
Conis, E. (2015). Vaccine nation: America’s changing relationship with immunization.
Largent, M. A. (2012). Vaccine: The debate in modern America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Literature review involves obtaining knowledge from a number of already written articles that presents methodological contributions to a specific topic of study. In this context we find that due to more advances in the field of medicine, children can now be protected more as compared to the old days. This is due to vaccination interventions which have seen many diseases being control while others have become extinct courtesy of vaccination. For example the elimination of polio disease in the United States is mainly due to vaccination. Vaccines are considered to be safe because they are mainly given to children only if they have been approve by the health professionals such as doctors and research scientists. (Honda et al., 2005) This section of the research is therefore going to discuss certain aspects of vaccination effects as connected to autism which is a myth in this context that it is caused by the vaccination. The areas of coverage are; facts about vaccination and vaccines, the side effects of vaccination by comparing the results of vaccinated and unvaccinated children and the vaccination versus the autism spectrum disorder.
The facts about vaccination and vaccines
Vaccination is the process of vaccine introduction into the body by administering it through the mouth or by injecting the child with a substance that eventually produce antibody against a specific disease, mainly biological preparations tends to improve the immunity against a particular disease. They typically contain a small amount of agent that resembles microorganism. Vaccines usually work through mimicking of the disease as it stimulates the immune system responses so that the build of defense against the disease takes place. Vaccines are entirely made by using a good number of different processes. Vaccines may contain the live viruses that are attenuated (i.e. the weakened or the altered so that they cause no illness), therefore we have the inactivated or the killed vaccines in the form of organisms or the viruses. The inactivated toxins are mainly for the bacterial diseases where the toxins are generated by the bacteria and not bacteria themselves that cause illness or even they are merely the segments of pathogens, this entirely includes both the subunit and the conjugate vaccines (Betsch et al., 2012).
In a situation where a large is vaccinated against a specific disease, we find that even the unvaccinated individuals are also protected in the long run. This situation is what is known as herd immunity. Different disease has different level of percentage of people who must be vaccinated so that the herd immunity becomes active. For example polio virus need that 84-86% of the total number of people is to be vaccinated while for measles virus which is highly contagious disease needs more than 94% of the individuals in a community to be vaccinated for herd immunity to be active. Herd immunity is found to be very important in fighting diseases outbreak, especially in the situations where the vaccines have failed to provide the protection due to the fact that some people cannot get vaccinated for example the pregnant women, children who are under the age or even the individuals with complicated/compromised immune systems.
Today vaccines are found to have reduced and in many cases they have eliminated so many diseases that used to kill or severely used to disable people in just few past generations. For example, the smallpox vaccination has eliminated the small pox disease worldwide. Currently the children do not need to get the smallpox shots anymore because the disease is inexistence. While on the other hand by vaccinating the children against the rubella- German measles, the risk that was known that the pregnant women will eventually pass the same virus on to the fetus or the new-born is found to have dramatically decreased and therefore birth defects that are associated with the virus is no longer seen in the United States.

The vaccination side effects
It has been reported that the environmental toxins tends to reduce the vaccine effectiveness. The research published by the journal of America medical association shows that the women exposure to the perfluorinated compounds when they are about to give birth or after birth can reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines in the child’s body. These perfluorinated compounds are mainly found in cookware or in food wrappings. Some are found in the events when one is doing personal care or even in the cleaning products etc. The report says that those mothers who are having twice the perfluorinated compounds level in the blood system have children who have 40% decrease in number of the antibodies in their blood system after being vaccinated with diphtheria-vaccines while for those 7 year old children who have the double levels of the perfluorinated compounds tends to have their antibodies reduced by 50% after being vaccinated with the diphtheria vaccine. (Betsch et al., 2012).
The research have also shown that individuals who are vaccinated are said to be asymptomatic carriers to the disease hence is capable of both spreading it and even contract the same disease itself. It is documented that those people who are vaccinated against the pertusis disease are capable of contracting it or spread it unknowingly. This was documented by the FDA baboon studies that was done recently and the research concluded that even if the vaccine for the pertusis can reduce the clinical effects of the disease symptoms in an individual, the elimination of the disease is not done totally for example the research showed that the newly born baby baboons were asymptomatic carriers of pertusis even if they had been vaccinated with the DPT vaccines and therefore they were capable of infecting others in their vicinity. It is therefore assumed that vaccinated people puts people at risk and this raises question of the vaccinating the healthcare workers before allowing them to handle the high risk populations of patients. The vaccinated people do mainly contract the diseases due to fact that the immunity acquired from vaccination is temporary and that the microorganisms used may get to evolve thus evading the vaccines (Betsch et al., 2012).
It is also documented that vaccines tends to promote disease mutations in the individuals. The vaccines usually puts more pressure on the microorganisms for them to develop the version so that the disease which is mutated. The veterinary vaccine study in the Australia found that by using two differentt vaccines of virus to fight the same disease in animals will make the viruses to mutate through recombination technique hence producing more virulent viruses. In Australia, the new strains of the dangerous whooping cough bacteria have been reported and the research says that the vaccine is responsible for its outbreak. This is mainly because whooping cough which is primarily associated to Bordetella pertusis as its causative agent; it is at the same time caused by another microorganism known as B. Parapertusis which the vaccine known to control whooping cough doesn’t protect, it was reported at the Penn state scientists that the pertusis vaccine is responsible for the enhancement of colonization of the B. Parapertusis thus making the disease more virulent and therefore outbreaks are seen. On the other hand it has been reported that the Flu vaccination always raises the risk of contracting more serious cases of flu illness. Such flu illness includes H1N1. The research that the vaccines that flu vaccines that are administered seasonally tends to weaken the children immunity thus putting them at risk of being infected by influenza viruses that are mainly not included in the vaccines while the unvaccinated child tends to develop more antibodies that fights against wider variety of viruses of the influenza disease as compared to the vaccinated ones. (Gangarosa et al., 1998)
The controversy of vaccine and autism
Autism is mainly the delay in development of some multiple primary functions that includes the communication, and the spoken language. The social interaction with one another and the overall repetitive behaviours is one of the main characteristics in autism. The report that dates back to 1700s says that people suffered from autism even during the early days before the invention of the vaccines. It is until the 1950s that autism was named officially and by 1994 the rates of autism started rising up drastically. The increase of this condition is due to the increased report of the cases and that many people are now aware of the disorder as compared to the old days. In the past days, people thought that they were suffering from a type of disability. A slow learning ability, or they had mental retardation or even the illness known as the ill defined psychiatric but as per now they are considered as those suffering from the autism but upto date the real cause of autism is not known but what is more positive is that the many people have now made great milestones in the understanding of the very condition autism spectrum disorder (Barber, 2013)
It has been reported that autism has a strong component of genetic. The studies reports that identical twins that have autistic sibling tends to have a chance of about 75% of also having the disorder while that of fraternal twins tends to have only 3% chance of the disorder (Honda et al., 2005). Autism is found more in individuals with more genetic syndrome as well as to those with autistic parents. The condition is found also to be four times likely to occur in men. It is believed to occur from several diferent genes rather than from just a single genetic mutation thus it becomes harder to get identified. The prenatal genetic factors and the insult are also believed to be causing autism but this is yet to be confirmed. Other causes is believed to be environmental conditions even though it also not yet confirmed and the studies are also underway to try investigate the environmental pollutants, the pesticides, the hormones in the foods we eat, the PCBs and even the heavy metals if they play a role in the cause of this condition. With all these and other research, it has been confirmed that autism is not caused by immunizations including the MMR vaccine (Honda et al., 2005).
The studies also show that by administering too many vaccines at the same time it does not cause autism. Many individuals in the holistic and the naturopathic communities are currently concerned with the issue that too many vaccines at the same time at the early stages of the child may be harmful to the immature child’s immune system. In the theory context it somehow makes sense but scientifically infants are highly exposed to far more in his/her first year. It is found that in the first year, the child is exposed to be infected with nine viruses during the play group activities or day-care. Giving the child five shots at once is therefore not harmful to the child’s immune system (Barber, 2013).
In summary to the topic of vaccination in connection to autism, the research has it that the vaccinations that are mainly done to the children are not in one or the other responsible for the widespread condition of autism that is currently being experienced across the world. The vaccines are said to be safe and are administered after thorough study by the scientists and the medical workers and it is only a myth that autism spectrum disorder is caused by vaccines.

References
Barber, R. A. (2013). Using the Reliable Change Index Statistic to Analyze Developmental Changes in Infants at Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Betsch, C., Brewer, N. T., Brocard, P., Davies, P., Gaissmaier, W., Haase, N… & Rossmann, C. (2012). Opportunities and challenges of Web 2.0 for vaccination decisions: Vaccine 30(25), 3727-3733.

Honda, H., Shimizu, Y., & Rutter, M. (2005) No effect of MMR withdrawal on the incidence of autism: a total population study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(6), 572-579

Gangarosa E. J., Galazka, A. M., Wolfe, C. R., Phillips, L. M., Miller, E., Chen, R. T., & Gangarosa, R. E. (1998). Impacts of anti-vaccination movement on Pertusis control: the untold story. The Lancet, 351(9099), 356-361.